1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing system which prints on and cuts a continuous sheet, and to a cutting device and cutting method which cut a printed continuous sheet.
2. Related Art
Printing devices which print on continuous sheets have conventionally been known. In a case in which a continuous sheet which does not have perforations or the like is printed on and is accommodated in a stocker or the like, the continuous sheet must be cut before being accommodated in the stocker. Accordingly, there has been proposed a printing system in which a cutting device which cuts the continuous sheet is provided at the stage following the printing device, and the continuous sheet which has been printed on at the printing device is cut by this cutting device of the following stage.
Among such printing systems, there are those in which marks which indicate cutting positions are printed on the continuous sheet by the printing device of the preceding stage, and the marks are detected at the cutting device of the following stage, and the continuous sheet can be cut at the cutting positions indicated by the marks.
In a printing device which prints on a continuous sheet, because printing cannot be started right away from the leading end of the continuous sheet, a blank page at which no mark is printed is formed immediately after the start of printing. Further, a blank page is formed also after printing stops. In particular, in the case of a printing device in which plural printing stations are disposed in succession and which carries out multiple transfer, the blank pages are long. At the cutting device of the following stage, not only the portions which are actually printed, but also the blank pages are cut in units of the page length, in accordance with the size of the stocker or the like.
Note that, in conventional printing devices which use, as the continuous sheet, a sheet with holes in which holes for conveying are formed or the like and which convey the continuous sheet in units of pages, the continuous sheet is conveyed in units of pages from the start of the printing operation, and can similarly be conveyed in units of pages also when printing stops. Therefore, even if printing is restarted after the printing operation is stopped for a time, the blank pages until the printing on the continuous sheet is actually carried out are the page length unit, and cutting in units of the page length is always possible.
However, a printing device, which uses a sheet without holes as the continuous sheet and in which the conveyed amount is an inconstant length due to errors in the acceleration of the motors or the like, cannot carry out operation in units of a page length. Accordingly, the blank pages, which are formed in a state with no marks at the time of starting-up or at the time of stoppage, are not the page length unit.